History of India, c. 150 A.D. to 350 A.D.: Naga–Vakataka Imperial Period c14.s5.25

c14.s5.25

45. Apart from the aśvamedhas which are symbols both of a political revival and a revival of orthodox culture, there is independent evidence of a revival of orthodox culture which marks a new era. The word Nāgara as in Karkoṭa-Nāgara, is undoubtedly connected with the word Nāga and is a vernacular form, denoting a derivative from that word, just as in Nagar-dhana [= Nāgara-Vardhana] (§ 32). The architectural term ‘Nāgara style’ could not be explained on the basis of assuming its connection with the word nagara (city). This style-name is unknown to the Matsya Purāṇa which closes its historical data at about 243 A.D., i.e. before the close of the Nāga period. But it is known to the Māna-sāra, a Guptan or post-Guptan work. The style designated by the term Nāgara seems to be the style made popular by the Nāga kings. In this connection, we should notice the same term applied to Brahmins called Nāgar Brahmins of the Gangetic valley (Bulandshahar)¹ who became Muhammadan in Muhammadan times, and the term applied to the Jāts called Nāgrā Jāts near Ahi-chhatra.² The former were Nāga priests and ‘-r (a)’ is added to show their connection with Nāga. The ‘Vesara’ style, which again is a vernacular term taken, like the Nāgara, from the vocabulary of the mason, is distinguished by its being in the ‘ornamental’ style: Sanskrit veśa, ‘dress’, ‘make-up’, Pkt. Vesa, besa, or ‘ornamental’ [vide Śilpa-Ratna, ch. xvi. 50: ‘vesaram veśya uchyate’].³ In both Nāgara and Vesara, ra has been added to the base-word forming a vernacular derivative, as gaṭṭhar (‘bundle’) from ‘grantha’ (‘tie’). The base in Nāgara is thus Nāga. Vesara was the type of religious buildings which was ‘artificial’, ‘architectonic’. Nāgara was that in which we mostly find the Gupta square temples, and the Vākāṭaka temple of Pārvatī at Nachnā, and the Bhāraśiva temple of Bhūmarā (Bhūbharā, see App. A.). It was a griha (‘dwelling-house’) of one room (Matsya, 252. 51; 253. 2).